Method for providing intuitively understandable visual representation of personal budgeting information

ABSTRACT

Intuitively understandable visual representations of personal budgeting information are provided by creating proportionate bubble graphics for portions of a budget, each graphic having a visual size depiction proportionate to its percentage of the total budget being considered.

BACKGROUND

In the prior art, there have been numerous attempts to provide computer software budget management tools. Many of those tools graphically represent budget data using bar graphs and pie charts. Neither has proven satisfactory, as explained below.

Referring to FIG. 1 a, an example bar graph 101 depicting personal budget data is shown. The bar graph shows budget categories for auto expenses 102, home expenses 103, food 104, and recreation or fun 105 for a chosen period of time, such as the current month or current year. Within each budget category, the bar graph depicts total budget amount for that category versus amount spent to date. For example, for auto expenses 102, a person can view actual auto expenses 102 a versus budgeted auto expenses 102 b in order to visually determine whether the person is under budget or over budget in that category. For the home budget category 103, the person in question has spent more on home expenses 103 a than budgeted 103 b, and that overage is depicted in the bar graph. The bar graph may also show budgeted amount versus actual amount spent in numeric form such as depicted with reference numerals 102 c, 103 c, 104 c and 105 c. Note that a fine level of detail of graphic display is necessary for a bar graph depiction, something that may not be available with graphic compaction such as on a hand held computing device. Also, the bar graph shows all budget categories being the same size, although undoubtedly some are larger than others. Thus a small budget overage in a small budget category such as food may appear to be equal to a large dollar overage in another category such as home expenses, although they are not at all equal. This can tend to mislead a user who relies on visual representation of the data.

It has also been recognized in the prior art that it is desirable to be able to warn a user when a budget item is approaching the budgeted amount, and to again warn a user when a budgeted item has exceeded the budgeted amount. For example, if a user's recent coffee purchases have caused a user to approach the budgeted amount for food expenses, then a warning to that user will be helpful to remind the user to cut back on or otherwise control expenses in that category. As another example, if a user's recent automobile repair bills have caused his or her budget for automobile expenses to be exceeded, then a warning to the user is appropriate so that the user can plan to cut back on other expenses, such as entertainment or clothing, in order to stay within budget overall.

Prior art software systems attempted to provide such warnings to users by colorizing budget data. As an example, expenses in a particular budget category which were approaching the budgeted amount were highlighted in yellow, while expenses that exceeded the budgeted amount for a particular budget category were shown in red.

Bar graphs may be depicted horizontally as in Figure la or vertically if desired, such as shown in FIG. 1 b. That figure shows budgets in relative size to each other. However, as budgets increase in size, one category will tend to dwarf the others, making all but the largest budget categories very difficult to visually comprehend with this type of data representation.

One attempt to resolve difficulties with bar graphs is to group budgets of similar size together. This is depicted in FIG. 1 c. In this example, greater than $1,000 budgets 110, such as auto 111 and home 112 are grouped together. Likewise, small budgets such as less than $30 budgets 113 such as fun 114 and internet 115 are grouped together. This is an attempt to resolve the problems inherent in bar graphs.

Regardless, bar graphs face serious drawbacks. First, if a particular budget is large compared to the others depicted on a bar graph, then the budget items which are not large must be shrunk to accommodate a large graphic for the large budget. This makes the budgets that are not large difficult to see and difficult to visually interpret, especially on a mobile electronic device. Second, bar graphs must utilize the same space to depict actual expenses versus budgeted expenses for any particular budget line item. This makes the budget line items difficult to see and understand. Third, bar graphs are not intuitive. Rather than glancing at a bar graph budget versus actual expense depiction and immediately understanding the budgetary situation, users tend to stare at the bar graphs, considering whether a particular expense might be ⅔ budget, ¾ budget, etc. Some users even find that numerical data is easier to comprehend than bar graphs.

An alternative to bar graphs which is known in the prior art is the pie chart. FIG. 2 depicts an example of pie charts 201 used to depict personal budget data. The pie charts show budget categories for home expenses 202, auto expenses 203, food 204, and miscellaneous 205 for a chosen period of time, such as the current month or current year. Within each budget category, a pie chart depicts the total budget amount for that category versus amount spent to date (shaded). Pie charts allow a person to visually determine whether the person is under budget or over budget in any particular budget category.

There are numerous problems with pie charts. First, there is a limit to the amount of information that can be depicted on a single pie chart before it becomes too crowded and complicated for easy understanding, Second, due to the size and complexity limits inherent in pie charts, in many instances all data desired cannot be represented on a single pie chart. Therefore multiple pie charts are used, making the data presentation complex when the whole purpose of using a pie chart in the first place was to simplify data presentation. A third problem with pie charts is that it can be difficult to show actual expenses versus budget amounts.

The above problems of prior art methods for graphically depicting personal budget information are compounded by two additional factors. First, a typical computer software budgeting package will include more than just budgetary graphics on a single page or screen. Therefore, the budgetary graphics must be shrunk into only a minor portion of a computer display device, consequently compounding the problems already mentioned. Second, many users would like to access their budgeting software on a mobile electronic device, such as a so-called smart phone. Mobile electronic devices tend to have compact display devices or screens, requiring further compression of budgetary graphics, rendering some prior art budgeting software unusable in such environments. Other problems with graphical representation of personal budgetary data will be known to persons of ordinary skill in the field.

Overall, the prior art struggled with how to show the relativeness of budget data in a manner that is intuitive, easy to understand, and may be depicted on a small display device, or a small portion of a larger display device.

SUMMARY

When the invention is implemented, budgetary information is depicted as two-dimensional or three-dimensional bubble or spheroid graphical objects or other similar shape. The shape, bubble or spheroid could be oval, elliptical, circular, spherical, ball-shaped, an orb, rounded, round, annular, or otherwise shaped within the spirit of this meaning. For shorthand reference, such two-dimensional and three-dimensional depiction of budgetary information will simply be referred to as bubbles.

When bubbles are used to graphically depict budgetary information, there are some natural consequences which are advantageous to the user. First, upon viewing bubble representation of personal budgetary data, it is both intuitive to the user and immediately apparent whether the limits of a particular budget category have been met or exceeded because the relative size of the bubbles is very easy to discern.

Second, the budgeted amount may be shown as a first bubble, with actual expenses shown as a second bubble. If actual expenses are less than budget, then the actual expense bubble fits within the budget bubble. If actual expenses are more than budget, then the actual expense bubble can enclose the budget bubble. Immediately it will be apparent to a user where he or she stands with respect to budget.

Third, when the viewing area of a display device available to show graphical representations of budgeting information is small, the bubbles can be shrunk or manipulated or adjusted to fit the screen. They can be shrunk or adjusted to the extent that they are just dots, and the user will still be able to discern whether one bubble is larger than another.

Another feature of the bubbles is that they are fluid and can be moved around the display device by a user depending on the user's placement preferences.

Additional features and advantages of the claimed invention will become apparent upon reading the remainder of this document and viewing the appended drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1 a-1 c depict a prior art budgeting bar graphs.

FIG. 2 depicts a prior art budgeting pie chart.

FIG. 3 depicts an example graphical representation of budgeting data using bubbles.

FIG. 4 depicts an example image that may be displayed when a user clicks on a particular budget category from FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 depicts detail of a particular transaction that a user clicked on in FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 depicts an alternative visual representation of budgetary information where hard data for budget categories is displayed in addition to bubble graphics.

FIG. 7 depicts budgets as spheroids and expenses to date as a spheroid within its parent spheroid budget category.

FIG. 8 depicts highlighting a bubble when an item is overbudget.

FIG. 9 depicts another embodiment using bubbles.

FIGS. 10-12 depict drilling down into a budget item through various screens.

FIG. 13 depicts another embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring to FIG. 3, an example of graphical representation of budget information using bubbles is depicted 301. A total budget 302 is shown in order to provide the user with a visual comparison of the magnitude of the total budget compared to individual budget items. Individual budget item bubbles for housing 303, auto 304, food 305 and miscellaneous 306 are depicted adjacent the bubble representing the total budget 302. If the bubbles are two-dimensional, then the area contained by bubbles 303, 304, 305 and 306 will equal the area of bubble 302. If the bubbles used in the depiction are three-dimensional, then the volumes of the bubbles will add up, instead of their areas The reader should not that a total budget representation bubble is optional.

Within each budget category, actual expenses versus budget for that category are shown. For example for budget category 303 for home, the total budget for that category is shown by its bubble. The actual expenses to date for home are depicted by the area or volume 303 a, and the remaining budget funds available for that budget category are depicted by the area or volume of 303 b. This graphical representation allows a user to intuitively understand at a glance the following information: total budget size, budget category sizes, and the portion of each budget category which has been used to date, allowing a user to plan future spending behavior based on this information.

If the user clicks on a particular budget category (or sub-budget), such as auto 304, then a new graphic will be shown such as that depicted in FIG. 4. In this graphic, the auto budget 304 is depicted as a bubble, with the used portion of the budget 304 a and the unused portion of the budget 304b being depicted in relative surface area or volume proportions as explained above. In addition, further breakdown for that budget is available, as depicted by bubbles 304 c, 304 d, 304 e, etc. whose area (or volume) in sum equals the area (or volume) of the budget 304 with which they are associated. Those bubbles could represent smaller time divisions, such as months in 304 c, 304 d, 304 e, etc., or they could represent individual expense items within the budget 304. In the latter case, if a user clicks on an individual expense item then he or she can see the detail pertaining to that expense item. A user viewing the graphic of FIG. 4 may wonder what the large expense is, and that user may note that such a large expense is hastening him or her toward budget maximum in this budget category. Therefore the user would click on 304 k to view the actual expense. That would take him to a new graphic such as that depicted in FIG. 5 where he would be reminded that the category is automobile, the expense number, the subject matter of the expense (such as transmission rebuild, 2001 Honda), and the amount of such expense. A user at this point could employ other features of the application, such as email, share, etc.

Referring to FIG. 6, an alternative implementation of the budgeting graphic of FIG. 3 is depicted. In this example, a display device 320 shows the information already discussed with regard to FIG. 3 plus an additional graphic 310. The additional graphic is an, area (or volume) of the computer display device that provides top level data detail for the user to view in conjunction with the graphical representation of the data 302, 303, 304, 305, 306.

Referring to FIG. 7, another alternative implementation of the budgeting graphic of FIG. 3 is depicted. In this example, three-dimensional bubbles are used to represent user budgetary information. In this three-dimensional representation, a budget (or sub-budget or budget category) 701 is depicted as a spheroid. Budget categories 702, 703, 704 and 705 are also depicted as being spheroid, although any desired shape can be used. The total volume of the budget categories 702, 703, 704 and 705 equals the total volume of the budget itself 701. Expenses to date within each spheroid are represented as a sub-spheroid 701 a, 702 a, 703 a, 704 a and 705 a located within its parent spheroid 701, 702, 703, 704, 705. This graphical representation of budgetary data provides the user with an intuitively understandable visual using proportionate bubble graphics for portions of a budget, each graphic having a visual size depiction proportionate to its percentage of the total budget being considered. Intuitively the user will understand the situation with regard to a budget after only glancing at the graphic.

One feature that may be implemented in the invention is depicted in FIG. 8. In this example, a user has a coffee budget of $10, but he has spent $15 as depicted in numerical data displayed in window 802. In such a case, the system can (a) grow the bubble representing the coffee budget 801 to represent the actual expenditure, (b) make the bubble representing the coffee budget brighter, (c) make the bubble representing the coffee budget colorized as a warning, such as the color red, (d) make the bubble representing the coffee budget blink, and/or (e) make the bubble representing the coffee budget pulsate between its intended budget size ($10) and its actual budget size ($15) in order to both catch the user's attention and in order to graphically inform him of the magnitude of the overage. Alternatively, the graphical representation of the coffee budget 804 could remain at its original size because the dollar value of the overage is small compared to the overall budget.

Referring to FIG. 9, an advantage of the invention is depicted. Budget bubbles such as 902, 903, 904, etc. may be enlarged or shrunk depending on the size of the display device 901 available. Bubbles are easy to enlarge or shrink or otherwise manipulate in proportion to their budget or expenditure amounts, yielding an accurate graphical representation of budgetary information. Other types of graphical representation of data (or widgets) do not have this same advantage.

Referring to FIG. 10, other advantages of the invention are depicted. A computer display device 1001 is shown. First, each budget is graphically depicted with a size in proportion to its budget amount. As an example, if the movie budget 1004 is one quarter the dollar amount of the grocery budget 1002, then the area occupied by the movie budget on the computer display device will be one quarter the area occupied by the grocery budget. And if the fuel budget 1003 is one third of the grocery budget 1002, then the area occupied by the fuel budget on the computer display device will be one third the area occupied by the grocery budget. If three dimensional widgets are used to display budgetary information, then the comparison will be volume rather than area. Second, the sub-budget concept is illustrated. If the gas/fuel budget 1003 is clicked, then the computer display device 1001 would display something similar to that shown in FIG. 11.

That shows the auto budget 1003 consisting of certain expenses (gas/fuel) with hard numerical data ($391 actual expenses versus a $460 budget with 85% used). History window 1101 shows budget history for this budget category. An option 1103 is provided for the user to edit this budget. Alternatively, the user can click the transaction bubble 1102 to see the 7 transactions that have taken place within this budget.

That will take the user to a new screen of the computer display device 1201 where transaction information is shown. The auto budget 1003 has had 7 transactions 1201 shown as 1203 through 1208, with each showing the relevant vendor and transaction amount. Clicking on one of those bubbles 1203 through 1208 would show the user the actual transaction information, such as the credit card charge information for a particular transaction plus any notes the user may have made for that transaction.

FIG. 13 depicts a computer display device 1301 with personal budgeting information displayed by use of a bubble format. Example budgets such as home 1302, food 1303 and auto 1304 are depicted. Note that in this example, there is no total budget bubble, as was shown in FIG. 3. The total budget would be represented by the total surface area of all of the bubbles shown. Each sub-budget is represented by its own bubble.

As a general matter, and without limiting the generality of the examples already discussed, there are numerous ways to represent personal budgetary information using bubbles. A first technique, already covered in some detail, is for each bubble to have a surface area that represents the budgeted amount or the amount spent to date, as desired. A second technique is for the bubbles used to be three-dimensional and in such case, budgetary magnitude will be represented by the volume of the bubbles used, rather than their area. A third technique is to have a bubble represent a budget or sub-budget, and shading, texturizing or colorizing of a portion of the bubble represents expenses to date within that budget. A fourth technique is use of bubbles for budgets and sub-budgets, with pie charts within the bubbles to represent the portion of that budget used to date. A fifth technique is to have bubbles represent budgets, and proportionately-sized circles or other shapes within the bubbles will represent the total expenses to date within that budget. A sixth technique is to use bubbles to represent budgets and place within those bubbles actual numeric data within the bubbles to represent dollars spent to date within that budget category.

As desired, bubbles graphically depicted as described herein may be either colorized or texturized. For example, a bubble representing an expense that is within budgetary limits could be green, while a bubble representing an expense that is above budgetary limits could be red. Instead, the two bubbles could be represented with different textures instead of different colors. Use of colors or textures permits users to quickly see if a budget category is over its budgeted amount.

Over time, as the expenses in a budget category add up to larger and larger amounts, the bubble for that budget category increases in visual size on a computer display. As other bubbles for other budget categories also increase in size over time, the user will gain a visual perception of the relative increase in size of the bubbles depicting various budget categories. For example, the user may recall that last month his auto expense bubble was smaller than his housing expense bubble, but this month the auto expense bubble has grown to be larger than the housing expense bubble.

Another feature that can be provided is the pulsing, blinking, or other light modulation of a bubble which is approaching or has exceeded the budgeted amount. For example, a user may decide that he or she wants to be warned when the expenses in a budget category reach 80% of the budget for that category. In that event, the software can cause the bubble representing that particular budget category to pulse in order to provide the user with a visual warning about spending in that budget area. The pulsing may be performed by making the bubble appear slightly larger and then slightly smaller. Or it may be performed by making the bubble slightly brighter then slightly dimmer. Or the bubble could change colors or textures over time to warn the user. Alternatively, the bubble could change shape, such as changing from a circle to a square and back again, to warn the user.

Another feature is the ability to click on a bubble representing a particular budget category to be able to see all expenses in that category, such as in list format. Once that level of detail is available, a user could click on a particular expense to see the underlying transaction, such as the data for a credit card charge for an auto repair or the actual invoice for the auto repair.

Another feature that would can be implemented is highlighting all budget categories that are approaching their budgetary limit at an above-average rate compared to the other budget categories. Such highlighting can be accomplished with color, light modulation, size, texture, wording, or symbols or an icon.

Another feature that can be implemented is to compare a current budget category, such as a current monthly budget for auto expenses, with prior monthly expenses in that category to determine if current expenses are aberrant compared to the norm. This will allow a user to monitor changes in expenses or behavior over time which may become the norm. For example, if gasoline prices double, that would be reflected in a sustained increase in auto expenses. This will also allow a user to set the new norm as the budget for that budget category.

Typically, the system and method described will be implemented with computer hardware and software. The computer would typically be a digital computer operated by electricity, but could be an analog or biological computing device as well. In a typical system, the computer has memory for storing user data, memory for storing software represented as a list of instructions to the computer, an input device for receiving user data and user instructions, a processing unit for carrying out software instructions and calculations, and a display device for displaying budgeting information graphically in either two or three-dimensional format.

While the present inventions have been described and illustrated in conjunction with a number of specific configurations, those skilled in the art will appreciate that variations and modifications may be made without departing from the principles herein illustrated, described, and claimed. The present invention, as defined by the appended claims, may be embodied in other specific forms without departing from its spirit or essential characteristics. The examples described herein are to be considered in all respects as only illustrative, and not restrictive. All changes which come within the meaning and range of equivalency of the claims are to be embraced within their scope. 

1. In a computing system having memory for storing user data, a processing unit for performing calculations, and a display for displaying graphical representations of user data, a method for graphically representing personal budget user data comprising the steps of: obtaining user data from memory, said user data including budget information, and budget category information, said budget information including a budget total value, said budget category information including a plurality of sub-budgets within said budget, said sub-budgets each having a sub-budget value, the sum of all of said sub-budget values equaling said budget total value, creating graphical bubbles for each of said budget and for each of said sub-budgets, displaying said graphical bubbles on the computer display in a proportionate representation schema, each of said graphical bubbles having an area occupied on the computer display, each of said graphical bubbles representing said sub-budgets occupying a sum total area equal to the area occupied by said budget graphical bubble.
 2. A method as recited in claim 1 wherein said bubbles are two-dimensional.
 3. A method as recited in claim 1 wherein each of said bubbles has a size corresponding to the magnitude of the value of the data represented by said bubble.
 4. A method as recited in claim 1 further comprising the step of permitting a user to select a bubble, and in response to said bubble selection displaying sub-budget information detail related to said selected bubble on the display.
 5. A method as recited in claim 4 wherein said information includes data selected from the group consisting of transaction detail, transaction amount, and invoice image.
 6. A method as recited in claim 1 further comprising the step of displaying on the display within each bubble a graphical representation of expenditures to date pertaining to the budget or sub-budget to which a bubble corresponds.
 7. A method as recited in claim 1 wherein said bubbles representing sub-budgets are displayed adjacent the bubble representing said budget.
 8. A method as recited in claim 1 further comprising the step of displaying on the display numerical data corresponding to said bubbles.
 9. A method as recited in claim 6 further comprising the step of for any budget or sub-budget for which expenditures to date exceed a budgeted amount, pulsing the bubble corresponding to said budget or sub-budget as a warning to the user.
 10. A method as recited in claim 6 further comprising the step of warning a user when expenses to date for any budget or sub-budget reach a predetermined warning level.
 11. A method as recited in claim 1 further comprising the steps of permitting a user to select a bubble, and displaying on the display all expenses related to said bubble.
 12. A method for graphically representing personal budget user data comprising the steps of: obtaining access to a computer having access to user data, computing means and display means, accessing user budget data within said user data, said user budget data having at least a budget and a plurality of sub-budgets, each of said budget and sub-budgets having a monetary value, the sum total of monetary values for said sub-budgets equaling the monetary value for said budget, said user data also having expense information relating to said sub-budgets, using said computing means to create graphical bubbles representing each of said budget and said sub-budgets and displaying said bubbles on said display means said graphical bubbles on the computer display being presented in a proportionate representation schema, said proportionate representation schema including each of said graphical bubbles having a size occupied on the computer display, each of said graphical bubbles representing said sub-budgets occupying a sum total size equal to the size occupied by said budget graphical bubble; wherein each of said bubbles has a size corresponding to the magnitude of the value of the data represented by said bubble.
 13. A method as recited in claim 12 wherein said bubbles are three-dimensional.
 14. A method as recited in claim 12 further comprising the step of permitting a user to select a bubble corresponding to a sub-budget, and in response to said bubble selection displaying sub-budget information detail related to said selected bubble on the display.
 15. A method as recited in claim 14 further comprising the step of permitting a user to select a piece of sub-budget information detail, and in response to said selection, displaying underlying transaction detail corresponding to said selection.
 16. A method as recited in claim 12 wherein said bubbles representing sub-budgets are displayed adjacent the bubble representing said budget.
 17. A method as recited in claim 12 further comprising the step of displaying within each bubble a graphical representation of expenses to date corresponding to the budget or sub-budget represented by said bubble.
 18. A method as recited in claim 17 further comprising the step of for any budget or sub-budget for which expenditures to date exceed a budgeted amount, pulsing the bubble corresponding to said budget or sub-budget as a warning to the user.
 19. A method as recited in claim 17 further comprising the step of warning a user when expenses to date for any budget or sub-budget reach a predetermined warning level. 